SlyGuy21
1st Match: Harlem Heat vs Scott Norton and Buff Bagwell. Norton and Bagwell are not threats, they certainly aren't the best the nWo has, so it's up to Harlem Heat to keep the match interesting. They do for the most part, even if there's no real suspense to the match. I did like Jacqueline coming down and helping out Harlem Heat though, she seems like a better match than Sherri. An OK starter. Rating: 3/52nd Match: Rey Mysterio vs Konnan, Mexican Death match. Basically just a No DQ match, but it's gotta sound more intense I guess. The match is interesting from a psychology standpoint, as Konnan destroys Rey leg for the whole match. He sells it well, and can't hit many offensive moves in a row. As good as the psychology is, the match has no real high point, and is just a 10 minute squash. Rating: 3/53rd Match: Jeff Jarrett and Dean Malenko vs Steve McMichael and Chris Benoit, Elimination Tag match. The match is interesting in that Jarrett gets himself pinned on purpose so he can leave, thus throwing Malenko to the wolves. Aside from that though, this is just a tag match made to further Mongo and Jarrett's feud. Would've been nice to just have a singles match between them again, or just a match between Benoit and Dean. Nothing bad so far, just OK. Rating: 3/54th Match: Chris Jericho vs Alex Wright, WCW Cruiserweight Championship. Kind of forgot about Alex Wright, apparently he's a heel now, and the bikers hate his guts, which is funny. This is the match of the show, there's nothing really outstanding about it, but it has a better pace and thrills than the matches before it. I can't imagine Wright holding onto the belt long, but it was still a good match between these two. Rating: 3.5/55th Match: X-Pac vs Ric Flair. This match is about respect, which Waltman doesn't have because he's too cool or something. Both guys do an OK job, but Flair keeps the crowd interested. I think he legit injured Waltman with the finish though, as he runs right into a low blow by Flair and comes to a dead stop. Looked painful anyway, another OK match. Rating: 3/56th Match: DDP vs Curt Hennig. So after a disappointing debut, and randomly turning on his tag partner in his first match, Hennig is now a phoning in this match as well. I know he can wrestle, but he just acts like he's going through the motions here. DDP loses here, which probably means that their feud will continue, hopefully with better matches than this. Rating: 2.5/57th Match: Randy Savage vs The Big Show. Savage gets a lot of offense here, and then loses in one move, what I like to call a Cena match. Y'know those matches where John Cena gets destroyed for 95% of it and then hits an FU and wins out of nowhere. Yeah, those matches. Only there's no story here, at least Cena can get you invested, this just exists until Savage loses. At least it's short, but that's about all the positives for it. Rating: 2/58th Match: The Outsiders vs The Steiners, WCW World Tag Team Championships. Nice of Hall and Nash to actually defend their freakin' belts for once. The match is OK, just OK. Disappointing for a title defense, even though the Steiners are over. I thought the DQ ending was unique, but again, Hall and Nash regain via DQ. This has happened way too much, it's obvious all these years later that they just wanted to hold onto the belts, but I imagine even back then this was frustrating to watch. Rating: 2.5/59th Match: Lex Luger vs Hollywood Hogan, WCW World Heavyweight Championship. After Michael Buffer botches the PPV title, we get a rematch from like 6 days ago. Luger beat Hogan for the belt on an episode of Nitro, and then holds onto it for 6 days, then loses it back to the guy that he beat. So what was the point of him winning? To make fans happy for 6 days? I had the same problem when Christian won the title in 2011 and then lost it 2 days later. Hogan beats on Luger for the whole match, and when Luger's about to win, Fake Sting shows up and nails him with a bat. So Luger loses the belt in a boring match that serves no purpose other than to give Hogan another championship. I could look past this iff the match had a good story, or chemistry, or suspense, but it doesn't. It's just two big guys punching each other for over 15 minutes and one of them cheats to win. Boring and pointless. Rating: 1.5/5Final Rating: 5 out of 10. The show started off OK, but the second half just buries it under a mound of mediocre and bad matches. Jericho's match is only thing you can salvage from this thing.R.I.P. Chris Benoit
callanvass
Live from Sturgis, South DakotaAttendance 6,500Your commentators are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan & Dusty RhodesHarlem Heat Vs Buff Bagwell & Scott Norton (W/Vincent)Harlem Heat wins with the help of Jacqueline. This was a poor opener. It had a lot of boring chinlocks and very unexciting wrestling. Not exactly a way you wanna start your show.*1/4 out of 5Mexican Death MatchKonnan Vs Rey MysterioKonnan wins by submission. This match had some good psychology in it, but man, was it ever boring! Mysterio was selling his leg injury and couldn't do the stuff he usually could. Konnan isn't that great either. I'm glad this one is over.*1/2 out of 5Steve McMichael & Chris Beniot Vs Jeff Jarrett & Dean MalenkoMcMichael and Beniot win. Well, this one was fairly entertaining, thanks to all the wrestling from Beniot and Malenko. It was very smart to have those two wrestle a lot of each other. **1/2 out of 5Cruiserweight ChampionshipAlex Wright (C) Vs Chris JerichoWright retains by pulling the tights of Jericho. This was a good match tainted by the result. I'm not denying Wright's capabilities as a wrestler, but his gimmick sucked. Jericho should not be jobbing to him. All that aside, I enjoyed this match.*** out of 5Ric Flair Vs SyxxFlair wins with his feet on the ropes. They just didn't click here. It wasn't a bad match, but it was never terribly exciting and the chemistry was off. It was definitely a forgettable encounter between these two.** out of 5Curt Hennig Vs Diamond Dallas Page (W/Kimberly)Hennig wins with a perfect-plex after Ric Flair distracts DDP. This match was highly disappointing. I expected a good match between these two, but I got one that was below average. They weren't able to kick into another gear when it mattered most.*3/4 out of 5'Macho Man' Randy Savage (W/Elizabeth) Vs The GiantThe Giant wins with a chokeslam. It's kind of brutal to see Savage lose easily like this. This was as an ugly match, just like I expected it to be. Even in his prime, I doubt Savage could carry The Giant to a good match.* out of 5Tag Team ChampionshipThe Outsiders (C) Vs The Steiner Brothers (W/Ted Dibiase)The Steiner's win by DQ after Kevin Nash pulls the referee out during a pin attempt. Out of all the finishes in the world, that's the best they could do? That's some serious BS! The match itself was somewhat boring with The Outsiders dominating most of the match in dull fashion. *1/2 out of 5WCW Heavyweight ChampionshipLex Luger (C) Vs 'Hollywood' Hulk HoganHogan wins the title after a 'fake' Sting screws Luger. This was garbage. How many times are we supposed to fall for the fake Sting crap? It's amazing how many times the announcers fall for it as well. It was a recycled finish with no creativity what so ever. The match itself was very slow-moving. Both men showed their age.* out of 5Overall, this is a pretty bad PPV. I was gonna give it a four, but the ending to the PPV angered me so much I've decided to bump it down to a 3. 3/10
amanwhorocks
1. Buff Bagwell/Scott Norton Vs. Harlem Heat - Booker T. is classic. Stevie ray is stiff. 6.5/10 2. Rey Mysterio Jr. Vs. Gonnad - Gonad all the time worked on Mysterio's left leg...pretty entertaining (irony), then he tried put his mask off, and after that torture he just won. Awful thing. 5/10 3. Tag Team elimination Match: Steve McMichael/Chris Benoit Vs. Jeff Jarrett/Dean Malenko. - Jarrett let himself get eliminated and Malenko was under total destruction 6.5/10 4. WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Champ-Alex Wright Vs. Chris Jericho - Quite boring title match. Champ retained 6.5/10 5. Syxx Vs. Ric Flair - 6/106. Diamond Dallas Page Vs. Curt Hennig - I like better their match for the US belt later in 1997. Flair interference here 7/10 7. The Giant Vs. Macho Man Randy Savage - Clear victory over Savage by Giant? That was surprise of the evening! 7/10 8. WCW World Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match: The Steiner Brothers Vs. Champs-The Outsiders - Sooner that PPV Hall @ Nash went into Papa Bischoff's office and cried they can't lose the belts. So there's another screw-job on WCW. Thank you, Mr. Nash. 3/10 9. WCW World Heavyweight Title Match: Champ-Lex Luger Vs. Hulk Hogan - Boring as their match could be. Hogan again won, he's best immortal super-athlete!!! 2/10 ROAD WILD 1997 didn't worth for. Hope I never see that again...
